Celebrating 100th birthday of Thelonious Monk, in “Off Monk”, I aimed for deconstructing his compositions while respecting their soul and history. I feel grateful to have explored this idea with my new quintet featuring Tolga Tuzun, Çağlayan Yıldız, Can Kozlu and Tobias Klein, who have been with me in my musical journey for decades.
I see this recording session as a ritual that'a dedicated to this great master whose work is the reason why I became a musician. And the other inspirational spirit who's invited to this ritual is of course none other than Eric Dolphy!